Student Stabbed At Piper High

Principal Shortens Lunch Periods, Puts Limits On Gathering Places.

May 4, 2004|By Jamie Malernee and Jeremy Milarsky Staff Writers

Sunrise — A Piper High student slashed another student across the face with a knife Monday, leaving the teen with minor injuries and causing parents and students to complain about security at the Sunrise campus.

Although the injury ended up being slight, the incident put the spotlight back on the school, near where a Piper student was stabbed to death by another student in a shopping center less than two years ago. In response to Monday's stabbing, which started as a fight over a girl, the principal is shortening lunch periods and limiting places where students can gather.

"It is important to note this was an isolated incident that originated off-campus in the community -- there is no school-wide threat," Principal Anthony Taylor wrote in a letter to parents.

Taylor has struggled to turn around Piper's image since he took over this school year. For the previous two years, Piper had the highest number of batteries of any high school in Broward County despite a decreasing crime rate. After the 2002 fatal stabbing, officials started an anti-violence campaign and beefed up security. The school has 11 monitors and security specialists, a school resource officer and security cameras.

Yet none of that was able to deter what happened Monday. Here's how events unfolded, according to school officials and Sunrise Police Lt. Charlie Vitale:

At a party over the weekend, two boys got into a fight over a girl. The argument carried over to Monday morning and a fight between four to five students broke out in front of the school. As security came to break it up, two students left and entered the campus.

There, Sunrise police said, a second fight erupted and a 17-year-old junior from Hollywood stabbed another 17-year-old student from Sunrise. The victim's name was not released and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not publishing the suspect's name because of his age.

"It was a very chaotic situation," school spokesman Joe Donzelli said, referring to how the two were able to get from the first fight to campus. "Maybe [the school] didn't know they were involved."

The injured teen was taken to Broward General in Fort Lauderdale with a cut on his face and a puncture wound in his abdomen. The school says his attacker was immediately caught while trying to run off campus. Sunrise Police Lt. Robert Voss said the teen ran off campus, got rid of the weapon and then returned before he was detained.

Police searched for the knife on the north side of the 8000 block of NW 44th Street between Pine Island Road and University Drive, but did not find anything.

Both the victim and the suspect in the stabbing were friends of the boys who originally fought over the girl.

Donzelli said the accused student will be expelled from Piper and the other students involved in the smaller fight will automatically be suspended. One student in the fight in front of the school was a former Piper student who had been expelled.

Denika Bartlett, 18, left Piper early after the fight. Her mother signed her out because "she felt that it wasn't safe."

"I would not recommend anyone coming to this school," said Bartlett, who called the security there "horrible."

"I'm not gonna lie. I skip," she said. "And I just walk right out of here."

Last school year Piper reported 36 incidents of battery, 26 fights, three robberies, a sexual battery, and six cases of weapons possession. That was down from the previous year, when the school reported 52 batteries and 61 fights.

"This really concerns me," said Margie Torres, whose son attends Piper. "I'm glad this is his last year, and we'll just get out of this school."

Officials say Piper is doing all it can to maintain a safe atmosphere and they were frustrated by comments to the contrary. Security's quick response to the first fight, Donzelli said, showed "what the school had in place worked." Students have been counseled since the fatal stabbing to tell the school about suspected violence. None told the school about the weekend fight.

"The school cannot do everything," Donzelli said.

Jamie Malernee can be reached at jmalernee@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4849.